Egregious Reader

I am reading Eberhard Bethge's biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and as he was involved in the coup attempts in Germany I learn some about them. In general, it is important to understand that there were fairly large sections of the Germany population that were against Hitler and the Nazi party, especially regarding the SS and their brutality in military actions. But they were the minority and it was not safe to voice dissent. Wilhelm Canaris was the head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, and he was one of the leaders in the conspiracy. He is the picture to the right. (He, Oster and Bonhoeffer were all executed together in 1945). In September 1939, Warsaw surrendered and Hitler ordered preparations for the invasion of Holland and Belgium. The conspirators hoped that this would wake up the other generals and that they would take an overthrow of Hitler over WWII. And, information about the SS atrocities in Poland began to circulate. "Of course, the ord...

So the next question is conscripted service. Many of the confessing church pastors were conscripted. Bonhoeffer could not see himself fighting for Germany in the coming war. But there was no such thing as consciences objectors, Paul Stohr had already done so, then he was arrested and shot. So Bonhoeffer decided the best plan was to go to America through his connections to teach. His brother Karl-Freidrich had been invited to lecture in Chicago, so they journeyed the Atlantic together. But from the moment he arrived he questioned his decision. Even on the ship over, he wrote about the necessity of being where God is, where God has led us ... "He takes us with him. Or have I, after all, avoided the place where he is? The place where he is for me? No, God says, you are my servant." Right after he arrives he writes in his journal: With all this, only Germany is missing, the brothers. The first lonely hours are difficult. I do not understand why I am here, whether it was a s...

Throughout 1939, Bonhoeffer came further into the circle of conspirators connected with his brother-in-law Christoph von Dohnanyi. "Until then he [Bonhoeffer] had eagerly looked for people who could summon the courage to say "no" in public, and were willing to accept dismissal from their post as a consequence. Now the period began when it was of utmost importance that people of character remained at the controls at all costs, and did not let themselves be pushed out ... If there was to be a conspiracy, then they had to enter the lion's den and gain a foothold there." There were various questions pulling at Bonhoeffer during this year. First, there was the conspiracy; then there was his continued involvement in the confession church or we might say the German church struggles; then his less and less involvement in the ecumenical movement; and finally there was the question of war and conscripted service. The church struggle came to to fore again when on April...

From The Hitch-Hikers by Eudora Welty I just liked this line: Of course it was by the guitar that he had known at once that they were not mere hitch-hikers. They were tramps. They were full blown, abandoned to this. Both of them were.